ERASE OR REUSE: CHALLENGES FOR THE ARCHITECTURAL HERITAGE OF THE RECENT PAST

authors name: TRIFA Raluca-Maria

Teaching Assistant, Dr. Arch. (year of the doctoral degree - 2015)
institution: Technical Sciences Departament, Faculty of Architecture,
"Ion Mincu" University of Architecture and Urbanism
personal or institutional website: http://www.uauim.ro/en/
e-mail: trifa_raluca@yahoo.com

The research intends to provide appropriate answers concerning the challenges faced by
valuable architecture examples from the second half of the 20th century in terms of heritage
preservation, with a focus on post-war industrial architecture.
The problems associated with recent heritage stir a growing interest among the
specialists in the field of conservation, due to the symbolic features which characterize the post-
war architecture. These particular characteristics are in danger of being lost forever in the
context of the present changes experienced by European cities. As a result, the urgent need for
recent heritage preservation clashes with the contemporary cities desire to reinvent themselves,
upon new ideological and social principles. In this context, despite being a part of our common
history, the fate of post-war heritage is doomed. Moreover, in the absence of tangible projects
supporting the preservation and reuse of the recent heritage, the cultural identity of most
European cities and residents can be irreparably damaged.
However, saving the architectural heritage of the 20th century can be seen as an
extremely difficult task: the formal and typological diversity of this new type of heritage asks for
varied methods of assessment and intervention, in order to ensure the perpetuation of these
built resources. Thereat, a limited number of international organisations (DOCOMOMO
International, International Scientific Committee on 20th Century Heritage) and independent
researchers have examined the complex matters associated with this topic, their combined
initiatives acting as a warning signal on the dangers that threaten the recent architectural
inheritance. Through their discourses, the actors involved in heritage preservation have
attempted to identify some key issues that take into account the multitude of problems faced by
valuable industrial examples from the last half of the 20th century: the lack of appreciation and
protection, the existing gaps in the conservation methodology, the absence of integrated
intervention strategies, together with the lack of recognition for their reuse potential. However,
the central question of assessing the cultural significance of this fragile heritage has not been yet
fully explored. Thereby, the proposed research aims to further analyse issues already discussed
by the specialists in the field of heritage conservation and to investigate the contemporary
approach regarding the existing methodology for evaluating the recent cultural heritage,
emphasizing the newly acquired industrial inheritance.
In this regard, the proposed paper addresses practical issues, designed to reduce the
dangers that threaten this heritage, by investigating the relation between the past values,
current condition and future use. Thus, the proposed topic advocates for an integrated approach
that takes into account the physical, social, cultural, economic and environmental issues related
to recent heritage, capable to influence the future urban development. At the same time, the
paper aims to overcome the criteria currently used in evaluating the architectural heritage,
surpassing issues related to the building's age, aesthetic components or the architects
personality. The main challenge of this research lies in providing a more accurate model of
assessing the qualities and significance of industrial heritage, by considering new levels of
valuation.

Gheorghe Gheorghiu Dej (Apaca) Textile Factory in Bucharest, built in 1948 (image source:
https://armyuser.blogspot.ro/2009/10/apaca-1-mai-1948.html)
Harry Stern
REFERENCES
Michael Stratton, Structure and Style: Conserving Twentieth Century Buildings, Taylor & Francis,
1997
Bernard M Feilden and Jukka Jokilehto, Management Guidelines for World Cultural Heritage
Sites, ICCROM, Rome, 1998
Jrg Haspel, Michael Petzet, Anke Zalivako and John Ziesemer, The Soviet Heritage and European
Modernism, Heritage & Risk Special Edition, Munich, Hendrik Basler Verlang, 2007
Theodore H. Prudon, Preservation of Modern Architecture, Hoboken, NJ: Wiley, 2008
Susan Macdonald, Kyle C. Normandin, Bob Kindred, Conservation of Modern Architecture,
Routledge, 2015

Athors biography
Raluca-Maria Trifa (born in 1984)
Raluca-Maria Trifa graduated in 2009 from Politehnica University, Faculty of Architecture,
Timisoara. Since 2011, the author was enrolled in a PhD Program at Ion Mincu University of
Architecture and Urbanism, Bucharest with a thesis that focused on the cultural regeneration of
industrial heritage. In December 2015 Raluca-Maria Trifa has publically defended her Ph.D. thesis
entitled Possibilities for the Sustainable Rehabilitation of the Historic Industrial Architecture.
The case of Timioara, which was highly appreciated by the commission and received a Summa
cum Laude honour. Currently, the author is a Teaching Assistant at Ion Mincu University of
Architecture and Urbanism, Bucharest.